


Like a Valley with No Echo

by catherinewestwood



Category: Supergirl (TV 2015)
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-02
Updated: 2017-03-02
Packaged: 2018-09-27 19:35:21
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,336
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10042814
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/catherinewestwood/pseuds/catherinewestwood





	

Lena liked working in the dark with her laptop being the only source of light in the room. Her doctor would scold her for the strain on her eyes due to the lack of ambient light, but there was something special, secretive, secluded about the setting. Lena liked that the only real movement in the room apart from her fingers flying over the keyboard was the steam rising off the coffee cup close by. Coffee was only for emergencies, and if a Discounted Cash Flow model at 11PM wasn't an emergency, the Board Meeting tomorrow certainly made it so.

Her wrist was starting to cramp, she knew she had to take a break. She leaned back in the chair and closed her eyes, the brightness of the screen bleeding through her eyelids. She rotated her right hand in a fist, trying to get the aching muscles to relax. The numbers were starting to blur, her wrist ached, her eyes were drying and she wanted to be in bed. She was the epitome of privilege and wanted so many things. She opened her eyes and flexed her aching fingers, praying for strength.

____________________________

The image on the screen was clear enough, the video conference was going badly.

"Madam President, I understand that the bridge in your hometown province is of prime importance and we would love to partner with you on that infrastructure project. We only ask that it also involves--"

"Ms. Luthor, while I appreciate your attempt to negotiate, do you think you're the first Westerner to come bearing your guilt in the form of money?"

Lena pushed her lips together in a desperate attempt not to grind her teeth. Her eyes barely flickered to Jess, who was standing behind the screen, waving a sheet of paper that had the word 'BRIBE' written on it.

"I apologize, Madam President, I want to work together and help--" but it was too late. That was not the word she should have used.

"Ms. Luthor, if you truly want to help us so much," and oh, there was such a sneer in that tone, "I would recommend you partner with my party to fund the building of the bridge first. Once it is completed, we can talk about any other humanitarian efforts L-Corp would like to participate in. I trust we are clear?"

Lena barely had the chance to nod before the screen went blank. She threw herself back into the chair, and looked at the ceiling. "We're not building that fucking bridge."

Jess nodded. "What now?"

Lena smiled. "You know, if it were Lex, he would just throw money at the opposition party in the upcoming elections and take her down. And he would make sure she knew that was the price of crossing him. Then he would just plunder the country for whatever he wanted. He may have thrown in some charitable work but it would have been a whim. An afterthought."

Lena looked at Jess and she wasn't smiling anymore. "Let's get someone who knows the country and has done work there before. There has to be someone who has cracked this nut. USAid? Red Cross? The UN? There has to be someone legitimate. You know what this was? Arrogance. That I thought I could do something that was a standalone vanity project for L-Corp. She was right there. I didn't research it enough, I expected too much. I wanted it too much. I thought it would come easily. Arrogance, Jess. Never again."

Jess nodded. "But we did have the full dossier--"

"But it wasn't enough. The past is prelude more often than not. But you know what? I'm feeling a little petty too. Let's do the research but do we have someone we can leak this corruption to?"

"Someone in the press? Is it news that a South American country's administration is corrupt?"

"Someone must care that it's pay-for-play. Especially when she wasn't elected, she ascended to the throne after a convenient scandal brought down the top of the ticket. A scandal that didn't touch her at all? Stinks from the head."

Jess was on her tablet going through their list. "Well Kara Danvers is visiting you today. You could mention--"

"No, not her."

Jess looked up at her boss and nearly smiled. Lena caught it and rolled her eyes. "Don't even."

Jess' lips twitched. Lena huffed. "Let's find someone else."

______________________________________________

Her morning shower was often the best part of her day. Lena was not a morning person. She loathed waking up; no matter how long she slept or how deeply, she could always, always use more sleep. It was never enough. To her, sleep was better than anything else in human existence -- Food, love, work, vacation, sex. Sleep always won. So if she had to get out of bed six days a week to be at the office, a scalding hot shower was the only thing that she had to look forward to upon waking up; nothing else could induce her to leave the nestled warmth of her bed.

It was not a zen experience. Most of the time she was already focused on the layout of her day, the problems, the opportunities, the annoyances, the breaks, the lack of breaks, the people, the meetings, the negotiations, the presentations, the spreadsheets. Her mind never stood still but the heat of water was like nothing else to her. A comfort, a blast that sloughed off dead skin cells and made her feel warm like so little else could in her life. Like sleep, her showers never lasted long enough due to time and her guilt with how much water she used. But beauty to her was the steam that rose from her skin in the moments after she stepped out of the shower as if her body was so alight that it was misting away into the atmosphere. It was the most powerful she ever felt.

But the nighttime showers, well, that was a new habit, one that she was ashamed she hadn't thought of before; she decided to damn her guilt to the dungeons. In the dark hours, the temperature was even hotter; she imagined that her pores were completely open, absorbing the steam into itself to have and to hold. As the water blasted against her scalp, she braced her palms against the shower wall, rolling her neck to relax. There was barely a gasp of sound in the shower door opening and closing and the hands that gently fell on her shoulder no longer surprised her.

This was their time, the only time they saw each other. Lena didn't alter anything about how she held herself. She waited and Kara came to her, molding her body against Lena's. Lena moved one hand to twine her fingers with Kara's, which were around Lena's waist. There they stood under the pounding water taking a moment for themselves, changing nothing at all about who they were. Nothing messy ventured here. Recognizing that what lay between could be held in a vacuum -- at least for some time -- and this was as safe as it got for either of them. With Debussy piped in through the surround sound, Lena turned and Kara pushed her gently against the back wall. The steam nearly engulfed them in the most harmless of fog and Lena breathed deeply before kissing her lover. There were few words, and what ones there were, were single, short, exacting words of instruction that began as demands and ended as pleas.

This was not going to last but they had found a respite from themselves, from all the weight. Respite in an illusion they had both fought and one that Lena had succumbed to first. An illusion that this was safe, temporary, and enough. If no one else knew, no one could tell them any differently. And when Kara slowly knelt on that wet white tile, neither the sound of the water nor the music could drown out their twin sighs of utter satisfaction.

 

\-- FIN


End file.
